Friday, June 26, 2015

Supreme Court Ruling and What It Means for Us All

News broke recently that the Supreme Court of the United States has ruled in favor of marriage equality nationwide. This means that gay marriage is now legal in all fifty states, no exceptions. All state laws forbidding it have now been overturned by the highest court in the land. I am certainly pleased and excited about this historic event. I myself have stood in protest against anti-LGBT legislation in the past when I publicly protested against North Carolina's Amendment One back in May 2012. I did receive a fair amount of hate as I stood outside my local polling place. It was such an extremist position to support equality under the law, you know? North Carolina just couldn't have that kind of ridiculousness, but now, they have no choice but to remove their anti-gay laws from the books. In fact, all states have now been ordered to do the same thing, and to extend equality under law to the LGBT community.

But this is not only a victory for the LGBT community and those of us who fought for equality, it's a great victory for all minorities in this country. Those of us who are minorities in orientation, religion, and race to name a few, know very well what it means to be persecuted, and how it feels to live each day of your life under the threat of persecution, simply because the majority wants to say that we don't have the same human rights as they do, to not live free simply because you are different in some way. Today, the Supreme Court dealt a devastating blow to that barrier, one that has knocked a gaping hole so that light can shine through. This is an important event for all of us, because today, the highest court said that states do not have the right to deny people equality under the law, and that the majority does not have the right to persecute the minority.